Day 218: Leah's Perspective

Genesis 29:16-35

Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.  Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.” “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.”  So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days. Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.” So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her.  (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.) But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied.  “But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.” So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.” She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. He was named Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!”  Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the Lord!” And then she stopped having children.

Many of us know this story and have heard this story before. We usually talk about Jacob’s willingness to work for Rachel and Rachel’s beauty. We pass Leah off as “the ugly sister”. Rarely do we look at this story from Leah’s perspective, so that’s what we are going to do today. Many of us read this story and we like to think that we are Rachel, but the truth is many of us are Leah. We know what’s it’s like to feel unloved, and we know what it’s like to want someone to love us. Many of us know what it’s like to chase love and do things that will make people love us. I think though many of us have characteristics of Rachel we relate to Leah. Leah has always been overlooked in favor of her younger sister, she was unloved.

Let’s break this down for a minute, her father tricked someone into marrying her. It’s almost like he knew that was the only way someone would marry her. It seems as if he was trying to get her off his hands. Jacob unknowingly sleeps with her. The very next morning he is in a rage because the woman he slept with was not Rachel. It was Leah. ouch! Jacob never looked at her as a wife, never loved her as a wife, or acknowledged her as a wife. Then Laban tells Him, wait until the bridal week is over, then you can have Rachel but you still have to work seven more years for her. Can you imagine how Leah must have felt, how heartbroken and unwanted she felt and was. First her father and then her husband. That must have hurt. Can you relate? I can relate, I grew up being brutally bullied, and one of the things that stuck with me for so many years was being told I was ugly, not just by the girls but the boys too. Also being told that I was the ugly twin. So I can relate to Leah, I know what it’s like, to feel unwanted. They said part is, too many of  us know what this feeling is like.

The story goes on to say that God saw that Leah was unloved. When we think we’re invisible, God sees us. When we think no one loves us God loves us. That’s the beauty of this story, God saw Leah. He did not look at her through the eyes of man, or the way that men have looked at her. In God’s eyes, she was just as beautiful as Rachel, He loved her the same as He did Rachel.

Leah began to look for love in all the wrong places. She thinks that by having a child Jacob would love her. She has three sons and we hear nothing from Jacob, When she has her last son, as pointed out by the website “Today’s Christian”, she decides to praise the Lord, not try to get Jacob to love her, I think this was the moment she decided that God’s love was enough. She had been looking for Jacob to love her for years, and probably her father as well, then she realized that the man who truly loved her was God. And He gave her four sons that would love her unconditionally.

All this to say, God sees you, and He loves you. Don’t look for love in all the wrong places. Even when you feel unwanted or unloved, know that God wants you and He loves you so much. More than you will ever know.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to Leah?
2. Where have you searched for love?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about feeling like LEah, and pray for those who feel like this everyday. If you still feel like this, know that you are loved in the same way that Leah was loved. You are not forgotten and you are not unwanted.

I love you. I really do and I want you to have a magnificent day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 219!